A Chinese restaurant where robots cook and serve food

Updated 15 January 2013
Follow

A Chinese restaurant where robots cook and serve food

LONDON: No need to tip this waiter! A sci-fi restaurant in China has employed robots to work as waiters, cooks, entertainers and receptionists. The restaurant has 18 types of robots, each gliding out of the kitchen to provide dishes, with speciality robots including a dumpling robot and a noodle robot. As a diner walks in, one of the robots extends its arm to the side and, with a sci-fi flourish, says “Earth Person, Hello, Welcome to the Robot Restaurant”, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.
After the diners have placed their order, the robots in the kitchen start cooking and once the dish is prepared, a robot waiter, which runs along tracks on the floor, carries it from kitchen to the table. Prepared dishes are placed on a suspended conveyor belt and when the plate reaches the right table, the mechanical arms lift it off and sets it down.
As people eat, a singing robot entertains diners. The robots have been designed and manufactured by a Chinese company. Chief Engineer Liu Hasheng, said they invested USD eight million in setting up the gen-next restaurant. “Staff in the computer room can manage the whole robot team. After the busy times during the day, the robot will go for a ‘meal’, which is electricity,” Liu said.
Liu added that after a two-hour charge the robot can work continuously for 5 hours. Another robot restaurant opened in Jinan in northern Shandong province in 2010, where robots resembling Star Wars droids circle the room carrying trays of food in a conveyor belt-like system.


Mick Jagger’s fiancee ‘physically attacked’ at exclusive London club

Updated 12 February 2026
Follow

Mick Jagger’s fiancee ‘physically attacked’ at exclusive London club

  • Melanie Hamrick, 38, dined with a friend before heading to private members’ club Annabel’s in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, where the incident happened
  • The author, choreographer and former ballerina has been in a relationship with the 82-year-old Rolling Stones singer since 2014 and they have a 9-year-old son together

LONDON: Melanie Hamrick, Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger’s fiancee, said she was attacked at an elite and exclusive private member’s club in Mayfair, central London.

The 38-year-old said the incident on Tuesday at Annabel’s in Berkeley Square had left her heartbroken and shaken.

In a message posted later that night on Instagram, she wrote: “This is incredibly hard to share, but I was physically attacked at Annabel’s Mayfair tonight.

“I’m so thankful to my friends for protecting me. Two people grabbed me from behind and thank God for the good people who stepped in to help me.

“I’m shaken, sad and heartbroken that people can treat each other this way.”

The message was deleted a few hours after it appeared.

Hamrick has been in a relationship with 82-year-old Jagger since 2014, and she confirmed in April last year that they became engaged about two or three years earlier. They have a son, Deveraux, who was born in 2016.

Hamrick is a choreographer, author and former ballerina who performed with the American Ballet Theatre for 15 years before retiring in 2019.

Before the incident on Tuesday, she had dined with a socialite friend, Emma Thynn, before heading to Annabel’s. Sources at the venue said staff were not notified of an attack. The Metropolitan Police said it had not receive any report of an incident, the Daily Mail newspaper reported.

The incident is believed to have taken place outside of the club. In the past few weeks there has been a series of daytime heists targeting luxury goods stores across London. It is not known if the incident involving Hamrick was related to these.

However, the area around the prestigious Berkeley Square has become one of the worst in London, and even in Europe, for robberies and street crime, the Daily Mail said. Official figures show that people in the area were 30 times more likely to fall victim to crime compared with those in other parts of the city, the newspaper added.

Numbers of thefts and robberies, mainly of mobile phones, have tripled in London over the past four years, with tens of thousands of reported cases, particularly in the upmarket Mayfair and St James’s areas.

Organized criminal gangs have reportedly been targeting high-value luxury brands such as Rolex and Yves Saint Laurent across London. Some visitors have even hired private security while visiting the city.

Last month, the Daily Mail reported that Tom Cruise, 63, had abruptly moved out of his £35 million ($47 million) luxury apartment in One Hyde Park, a high-rise in West London, over safety fears.